who thought moose guards was a good idea anyway?!

[rebella]

Who: Ella & you!
Broadcast: Audio, Fleet-wide?
Action: On Planet
When: Now

Hello? Is this working?

( Ella's keeping her voice low. Something whines near her communicator. She make a hushing sound in return before continuing to talk. )

I really hope it is... uh, if anyone's out there, do you have any... pointers... on how to escape a guard deer when you've been treed in an ice sculpture with a fox?

( Problems where children demand your assistance in rescuing their lost fox. Problems when you have to listen to direct orders. There' a loud THWACK and Ella tucks the fox in closer to her abdomen and pull her legs up while she hauls herself up another branch of the odd sculpture. There's one heck of a big moose huffing and circling this ice-carving tree-bird-angel she's climbed into. )

Comments

[parricida]

Then I suppose you'll simply have to wait there until it's done-- or until you can summon enough courage to try and outrun it.

[rebella]

I should be able to make the fence if it gets far enough away...

( since now she... has to now wait until the moose is done or until she can try to outrun it, and it's not a lack of courage she's feeling. it's not probably intended as an order, but the phrasing is enough that she can feel the urge take over, but with the two different conditions to balance, she doesn't fling herself down and run for the fence like she might have needed to do otherwise.

great. )

... Maybe in another five minutes.

[parricida]

Might I ask how you ended up there in the first place, or shall I regret it?

[rebella]

You're free to ask if you want to listen. I won't promise it's an interesting tale, but I do have several minutes to pass while waiting.

[parricida]

Go on, then. Even a less exciting tale would be welcome right now.

[rebella]

( ... Well. Here goes? She makes a humming noise to stave off the urge to just talk immediately. Some things are less enjoyable than others, but she had made the offer to start with, so being told to get on with it is less bothersome than it would have been otherwise. )

I happened to be walking through town, admiring the differences in the delightful snowdrifts on each corner, when a young boy barreled into me. We both ended up testing out the ground with our backsides, and as it is, I don't recommend repeating the test yourself. It's really not worth testing how hard the snow is when packed down like that.

( Meanwhile, she's temporarily interrupted by the moose hitting its antlers against the sculpture again with a THWACK. )

He'd been running around looking for his pet fox. His name is apparently Soot, and he's white as the snow is, with a bad habit of sneaking off out of the house through where the ashes are dumped, I was informed. The way he ends up covered in soot had inspired his name. I agreed to help him locate his missing friend, which is well and fine enough. I did manage to find him about a block away, pawing through someone's personal snow hill in front of their home. He didn't take well to being tracked down by a stranger and darted through the nearby fence after a short chase. I don't think he expected I'd be able to wiggle in after him, but I did, and I had him up in my arms right before we both met the deer guarding the property.

( She's pretty sure the moose is guarding this property, it's all that makes sense. )

It's almost twice as tall as I am, or else it's very good at standing on the higher part of a given hill, because it felt much, much too large to me. I'd have thought it would have left after seeing the two of us, fox and human, but instead of leave, it started running at us. So I did what made the most sense. I ran away.

Unfortunately, I came to the sculpture I'm in now before the fenceline. The deer caught up with us much too quick.